Much of the action takes place in a big, spooky house, the Thai equivalent to a gothic mansion. In one scene, Wee is in a claustrophobic graveyard, surrounded by tall gravestones on a dark, rainy night. Even the music takes its inpiration from other films. At one point, violins are insistently plucked as in Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho. At another point the score includes women, or perhaps children, la la-ing as they have done for past gialli. A scene with the battling lovers cuaght in a house on fire echoes in particular ending of Roger Corman's Poe films, The House of Usher and Tomb of Ligeia. Both of those films were about houses with extraordinary connections to a dead woman.

Aside from the generally serious tone, what makes Alone different from the standard Thai horror film is the presence of star Marsha Wattanapanich. This is the pop singer's first film role in fifteen years. At 36, Marsha is significantly older than the actresses one usually sees in Thai horror films, but her maturity suggests a greater depth to the film. The filmmakers play with the Thai audiences familiarity with the star - Marsha's nickname is Pim.

Alone marks the last collaborative effort of Banjong and Parkpoom. Their previous film, Shutter, is available on DVD, with an English language remake in the works. Alone is certainly worthy of an international theatrical release. An if there has to be the seemingly inevitable English language remake, maybe Brian De Palma will be the director.